JEFF EDELSTEIN: If the stereotype fits, is it really a stereotype?

By
Jeff Edelstein, The Trentonian

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Jack Benny Show was classic, classic television. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth tracking down a few episodes. It was a forerunner to shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” where the lead character plays an exaggerated version of themselves.

And if Benny were alive today, he’d probably have schmucks like New York congressman Steve Israel chomping at his butt.

Why? Because Benny — born Benjamin Kubelsky — played in a cultural sandbox we’re not allowed to play in anymore for fear of offending people like Israel. I’m talking about the most dreaded word in a politically correct society run amok: Stereotypes.

Benny - who was Jewish - was a cheapskate when in character. One of his most famous bits involved a stick-up man demanding “your money or your life!” Benny paused, the robber repeated the question, and Benny finally snapped back, “I’m thinking it over!”

So yes. Today, if Benny were alive and pulled something like this — stereotype of a “cheap Jew” — I could see people like Israel calling him out.

Why am I picking on Israel on this wide-ranging topic? Because he had to stick his (stereotype alert!) big nose into the not-quite-brouhaha brewing over Bravo’s latest “reality” piece of crap, “Princesses: Long Island.”

The show is about six unmarried Jewish women who still live with their parents and who fit the classic, pig-headed stereotype about Jewish women, particularly those from Long Island: Entitled, self-important, money-hungry, yadda yadda yadda.

Here’s the problem though: The women on the show are Jewish. And they’re from Long Island. And they’re entitled, self-important, money-hungry, yadda yadda yadda.

So to be clear: There’s a nasty stereotype involving Jewish women. Here are six Jewish women who embody the stereotype. And a Jewish politician stands on his soapbox and denounces the Bravo network for … “fuel(ing) anti-Semitic stereotypes,” as he wrote in a piece for Huffington Post.

You ask me? Borderline insane to call out Bravo for promoting a stereotype when the people on the show are living up to the stereotype. Which means it ain’t so much a stereotype as it is real life, whatever that means within the swirling prism of quote-unquote reality television.

Of course, it’s not just Israel and the Jews. (Great name for a Biblical band.) Every single time television execs burp up another show that traffics in race or religion or culture, crazy-eyed members of said race or religion or culture will stand up and bellow from the rafters, demanding the show get taken off the air and say things like Israel said in his HuffPo piece: “I don’t want viewers of the show to think that they are, in any way, representative of Jews or Long Islanders.”

No kidding.Not every Jew is money-hungry, not every Italian is Tony Soprano, and on and on and on..

One of the best takes on the subject of stereotypes dates back to 1987 when comedian Barry Sobel (a Jewish comedian! What a stereotype …) appeared on the Rodney Dangerfield Young Comedians special. He launched into a stereotype-laden rant that was funny because it was true. A few dozen cultures, creeds, races and religions were attacked. And yes, sure stereotypes are ugly and it’s a cruddy way to paint someone, but the fact remains: Many are based on some reality.